Absolute Underwear?!
I sprawled out like a starfish and gasped for air. My lungs burned, and no matter how deeply I breathed, the exhaustion refused to fade.
Only now did I truly appreciate how lucky I was to have completed the Second Awakening Quest and gained control over Chaos energy.
Slim was a monster that demanded perfection. If even one of my stats—strength, stamina, agility, or intelligence—had been slightly lacking, a one-on-one fight would have been impossible.
It had been an overwhelmingly powerful opponent, and the fact that I had defeated it alone filled my chest with indescribable pride.
“Ah, this isn’t the time. Sowon!”
“While you were catching your breath, I already finished the bonus looting. You worked hard, Humin. And here—this is for you.”
“Huh? What is this?!”
“Looks like I wasn’t the only one who joined your raid party. Or maybe the Goddess of Luck doesn’t count as a person?”
The bracelet Sowon handed me with a mischievous smile was…
◈ Level Requirement: 30+
◈ Intelligence (including Chaos energy) Requirement: 15+
◈ Durability: 100%
◈ High-Output Energy Shield usable
High-Output Energy Shield
- Consumes (χ)% Mental Power per minute. Deploys an energy shield with (χ)×1,000% Physical, Elemental, and Magic Defense.
* No cooldown on Energy Shield.
{Where the hell did this guy hide this bracelet?! —Cardimead}
“Holy crap…”
It was a Legendary bracelet with overwhelming performance. No—calling it a bracelet was misleading. It was essentially a shield disguised as jewelry.
There were only two options, but both were absurdly broken.
First, the Energy Shield.
If I consumed 1% Mental Power per minute, it would generate a shield capable of defending against 1,000% Physical, Elemental, and Magic attacks.
What I needed to understand first was the difference between equipment defense and personal resistance.
When a Hunter is hit, the attack first reduces the equipment’s defense rating, then the wearer’s resistance is applied.
For example, if I took a punch with 100% Physical power and my armor had 50% Physical Defense, half the damage would be nullified. If my Physical Resistance was also 50%, only 25% of the original power would actually reach me—one-fourth of the initial force.
If I had Physical Immunity, I wouldn’t take any damage even if my armor had 0% defense.
Conversely, even if my resistance was 0%, as long as my armor’s defense exceeded or matched the enemy’s attack power, I could completely negate the physical damage (excluding purely physical phenomena).
It was said that an S-rank swordsman in the level 50–60 range, using a Unique sword and skills, could output around 340–410% Physical damage on average…
That made a 1,000% defense Energy Shield—gained by investing just 1% Mental Power—feel completely insane.
Essentially, if I could block with this shield, I could defend against almost any physical, elemental, or magical attack.
Shields were typically strong in Physical Defense but weak in Elemental and Magic Defense.
But this Energy Shield had no such weakness. It raised Elemental and Magic Defense to the same ridiculous level as its Physical Defense. A truly broken shield.
And the second option?
No cooldown on the Energy Shield.
No further explanation needed.
I equipped the bracelet and activated the Energy Shield.
Woooong!
A spine-tingling sound effect rang out as a hexagonal translucent energy shield instantly formed above the bracelet.
It moves with the bracelet and weighs nothing. So “per minute” consumption means even a few seconds will deduct a proportional amount.
After maintaining it for just ten seconds, I felt my Mental Power drop by about 1%.
Some might wonder how it’s possible to “feel” Mental Power being consumed, but Hunters were beings who could sense such things.
The lower your Mental Power, the more confusion, hallucinations, nausea, and dizziness you felt. When it hit rock bottom, you could even faint.
Still, Mental Power was an essential resource required for using skills, much like MP in games.
That was why managing Mental Power was more important than anything else for Hunters. Being too frugal made it hard to use skills, but reckless overuse could lead to fainting mid-battle.
After confirming the bracelet’s effects, I headed toward the spot where Slim’s split core lay.
I wonder if this guy will work too?
I had already confirmed through Goblius that boss monsters could be turned into Minions of the Underworld, but Slim was a Chimera Slime—a machine, not even a living creature.
Nothing to lose by trying…
“Minion of the Underworld. Summon.”
Boss monster, Nightmare of the Sewer, Slim has been designated as the skill target.
Boss monsters can only be resurrected once per unique entity.
To resurrect a boss monster, 5 maximum summons of Minions of the Underworld are required.
Would you like to resurrect Nightmare of the Sewer, Slim?
It actually worked?!
“Of course!”
Purple mist enveloped Slim. When it cleared, the shattered core had been perfectly restored.
Beep.
-System restoration in progress. New administrator code entered. Confirmed. Entity name Ahn Humin registered as the new administrator of unit SLIM-5779.
I had gained my second boss minion.
And since I had personally experienced just how strong this thing was, having it under my control felt incredibly satisfying.
Plus, now that it’s a minion, we can actually communicate.
-Greetings, junior. I am Goblius, who began serving our Lord slightly earlier than you. Feel free to call me Senior.
Beep.
-Scanning target. Identified as 10th-floor boss monster, Goblius. Matching wavelength detected. Downloading language patterns, personality module, and voice records from a human of similar age, gender, and nationality to the current administrator. Download complete. Constructing response sentences. Complete. Loyalty, sir!
-Huh?! What an interesting fellow! Wahahaha!
Watching Slim form a V-sign with its fingers and wink using its newly reconstructed slime body, I could only press a hand to my forehead.
“What kind of people did you download speech patterns from…?”
“W-well, it’s still way cuter than when we first saw it, right? Hahaha…”
Slim wriggled its way over to me and greeted me in a cheerful voice.
-Hello there, New Master! I am the strong yet even more adorable and charming Chimera Slime, Slim, sir! I will assist New Master with all my heart and strength alongside Senior Goblius! Loyaaalty~!
“I don’t even know where to begin with the criticism… but seriously, where did you learn that speech pattern?”
-I learned the language patterns of one of the most active internet users among males of the same nationality and age group as New Master, sir! Is it not to your liking?
“No, it’s… never mind…”
When it looked up at me with those big, watery eyes that seemed ready to cry at any moment, how many cold-hearted people could tell it they didn’t like the way it spoke and demand a change?
For some reason, Slim seemed to like this personality, and as long as it did its job well, I didn’t particularly care if it acted like a bull or a black bull. So I decided not to worry about it.
“First, change that ‘New Master’ title. It’s so cringey I might actually die.”
-Understood, sir! Then from now on, I will simply call you Master, sir!
“Do whatever you want with that. How many combat techniques or magic skills do you have? The ones you used against me weren’t everything, right?”
-Of course not, sir! Several were locked by the previous administrator, and there are some I’ve never even been able to use, sir.
“Hmm~ That almost sounds like you were going easy on me.”
-Shall I be honest, sir?
“Yeah. Be honest.”
-You won’t get mad, right, sir?
“Just answer already.”
-I wasn’t going easy, but I wasn’t using full power either, sir. If the previous administrator hadn’t locked the functions, you would have been nothing but a light snack, sir.
“Right. Head down.”
After giving the arrogant slime a proper “education” by making its round body bend into a shape and press its head to the floor, I asked it another question.
“Then tell me specifically what techniques you have and what you can do. I need to calculate when making strategies.”
-I have sent you the manual, sir!
“Hmm~ You’ve got good sense after all.”
I checked the message window that appeared before me and couldn’t hide my shock.
Wait, you were originally able to use all of this? This is no joke.
Now I understood what it meant that the previous administrator had locked the functions.
Just like how Goblius could only step in after the Three Knights were defeated, Slim had restrictions placed on some of its functions. Without them, its power would have completely broken the balance.
“So now I can use all these functions?”
-My current administrator is Master, sir! If Master permits it, all locked functions can be used, sir!
“Hmm~”
As I went through the functions one by one, one in particular caught my eye.
This is…?!
“Change Form (Suit)?”
-Ah, that is similar to the Shadow Slime that the young lady over there is wearing. Of course, the quality is beyond comparison, sir.
“You can do that too?!”
I had never even imagined it. I never thought Slim would be capable of something like that…
The Shadow Slime was so thin it was nearly indistinguishable from an actual shadow, and I had tried it because its traits and abilities seemed versatile. But Slim was…
-Seeing is believing, sir. Shall I demonstrate?
“Yeah.”
The moment I gave permission, Slim slid across the floor and approached.
It slipped inside my clothes, crawled up my body, and in an instant completely covered me.
-Finished, sir.
“This is it?”
“It doesn’t look any different?”
“Right?”
I lifted my clothes slightly and examined my body. My abs and hands looked exactly the same as before.
-The pinnacle of tuning is to remain stock, sir. Still, I have coated Master’s entire body, so you can now use all of my abilities and traits to their full potential, sir.
“Abilities and traits…?”
I hurriedly checked Slim’s stats.
Its resistances had already been overwhelmingly high at over 80% across the board. After being reborn as a Minion of the Underworld, both its stats and resistances had exploded upward.
A-all resistances at 95%? That’s the maximum for every single one?!
In other words, just by wearing Slim over my bare body, I would gain 95% resistance to everything, and only 5% of any attack’s damage would actually apply!
I had essentially obtained an overwhelmingly efficient set of absolute underwear.
“By the way, where’s the core?”
Slim’s core used to be the size of my head. After changing into Suit Form, I couldn’t see it anywhere, which left me confused.
-Would you touch your right ear, sir?
“Huh? What is this?”
I widened my eyes at the unfamiliar sensation against my earlobe.
“An ear cuff? Don’t tell me this is you?”
-Shape-shifting is one of my most basic functions, sir. However, the previous administrator had locked shape-shifting and size adjustment functions, so they were unusable until now, sir.
“Then back then, if you had…”
I recalled the final moment of our battle.
The moment I had sliced Slim apart with a whirlwind. What if it had transformed the shape of its core? Or even simpler—what if it had just shrunk to avoid the attack?
At that moment, Slim’s confident voice echoed inside my head.
-Didn’t I tell you, sir? You wouldn’t have even been a light snack.
I let out a small chuckle.
“Fine. Your dick’s thick. You win, you bastard.”
Either way, I had won. And now Slim was my loyal minion.
Who would have thought that this minion was actually disgustingly strong?
Even better!
Of course, I fully intended to defeat even a fully unlocked Slim one day with genuine strength. Until then, I’d have to train like hell again.
Kicked out of the guild without knowing he was EX-class.